I was a 29 year old mother of three who had spent eleven years with my love. I was widowed. This diary begins five years after his death. I hope to capture the memories of this journey. The lessons. The joy. The sadness. The humor. The faith. The hope.

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Saturday, May 8, 2010

SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO DRAW THE LINE

It was a typical evening... filled with typical parenting 'stuff'. After my last run in the car with the children, I came in to take a shower. We then had some quiet reading / homework time with the kids then family prayer and we were headed to bed. As I was turning off the house lights I saw car lights on in the driveway. It didn't take me long to realize they were MY car lights. Puzzled, my first thought was in my craziness I had left the car running. No, car keys are right here. Weird. My car is one that the second you take the key out of the ignition... it goes dead. No lights, radio, nothing. So, how on earth my lights were on an hour after I had turned the car off I found to be quite puzzling. It wasn't all the lights.. just the daytime running lights.

I went outside, started my car, then turned it off again. They were still on. My options ran through my head. I could just forget about it and go to bed. I was tired and this sounded like a probable choice. But, the side of me that didn't want to deal with AAA in the morning won over and that choice was thrown out. I could disconnect the battery. WHAT? I don't know how to do that. I called my friend to complain. I chose her as she had just recently was having issues with her car, and had to learn how to do that. She told me the name of the wrench I would need... my whole body seized and I said no. Sometimes you just have to draw the line. There are a lot of things I am willing to do as a widow. THAT tonight... is just not one of them.

There had to be another option. I turned the car on again. I turned it off again. The lights were still on. I thought perhaps if I drove it around the block.... that would help. I started driving... knowing deep down inside this was doing nothing for me. So, I didn't drive around the block. I drove to my other friends house. I have told you about this friend's husband before... remember? The cat and the.. uh... maggots? Yes, my dear husband's fishing friend... who for five years has paid the price for being his friend. The one I always suggest with a smile that I hope the fishing was worth the years of having to deal with the widow... Anyway, I pulled into their driveway around 9:30pm, honestly just glad it wasn't an unreasonable hour.

He stopped his P90x workout to come help me (I am hoping that was actually a perk for him to get to stop). As I was waiting for him I was talking to my girlfriend and she inquired if I hadn't had this problem before. No. I am quite certain this has never happened before. Her husband came out and disconnected my battery... left it disconnected for a bit - then re-connected it. No use.

He offered to follow me home and he would disconnect the battery in my driveway and then come over in the morning to reconnect it so I could take it to the shop. I gratefully accepted... feeling just a little guilty that I didn't say "no, don't worry about it. I am sure I can figure that out".

He arrived home behind me and inquired... "Didn't this happen before?". No, I am quite certain I would remember such a thing. He decided instead to remove the fuse for the lights. It took a few minutes to find the right fuse - we (and by we I mean he) pulled the fuse and he was off.

I came in and decided to google it... to see if this is something that happens often to others. I pulled up the second hit. Wilsonhp, a cheesehead from Wisconsin wrote... "Check on top of your steering column....." I didn't have to read any further. Oops. This had happened before "for a small switch that is easily activated, but not real obvious when it is cycled. It turns the parking lights on/off."

I went out to the garage... like an independent widow... put the fuse back in... and flipped the little switch. No need to take the car to the garage tomorrow. Good thing... they would have laughed. I already paid them to 'fix' that once.